Lakeshore Learning at Home

Do you have a favorite teacher store near you? My go to store is Lakeshore Learning. Not only do I buy many teaching supplies there, but I purchase gifts for my nieces and nephews as well. 

I was super excited when I was contacted by Lakeshore Learning and asked to review an item from their new Learning Starts at Home collection that is now in all 57 stores and online.

I chose Let's Play School because this is definitely something I would have bought when my son, Casey, was five. He went through a "playing teacher" phase and I searched around town for a bell, pointer, chalkboard, etc. This would have been so much easier and there is so much included!

 Look at all this great stuff! 

Lakeshore did an amazing job including everything the child would want to play teacher.

I couldn't believe they even included a reward system with prizes! Rolling a reward cube was a brilliant, easy idea for a child to incorporate.

A stack of different certificates with a variety of stickers.

A calendar with a write and wipe pen.

A roll book!

Report cards and a red Fair pen! Do they know what teacher's like or what?!

Spelling tests, a teacher pencil and self-inking stamps!!!

Name plates, bell, whistle, and a hall pass!! 

A chalkboard, chalk, pointer, clock, and American flag with stand! I didn't take another picture of the United States puzzle since it showed up well in the first photo.

Lakeshore thought of EVERYTHING! 

My son would have gone crazy for this set! 

The other Lakeshore Learning Starts at Home products look equally amazing. Click HERE to go check them all out. (The Read Around the House Treasure Hunt was a favorite of my boys.)

How would you would like to pick up an educational Christmas present for your child (or niece/nephew in my case) at 20% off?
 Click HERE to get your coupon good until October 31st. 

Now the only hard part is deciding who gets what. I am determined to get my Christmas shopping done early this year.

Wizard Wall

I have a cool product to show you today called Wizard Wall. It is special "paper" (it reminds me of the wrapper around a popsicle) that you can use to make your anchor charts but it has some super cool features.

No judging my handwriting! Real time is sometimes not pretty.

1. It is electrostatic so it can go up on any wall without tape, tacks, etc. Not only is this great if you don't have an easel handy but it also makes putting it on a wall for display quick, easy and won't harm your painted walls!

2. You can write on both sides with permanent or dry erase markers!

Here is a video of it in action.


 Visit them on Facebook to learn more or be eligible for giveaways they run.

Want to try a sample pack for yourself? Enter via Rafflecopter below and I will pick one winner on Sunday!
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That's all for tonight my friends. Teaching half days and conferencing the rest has me pooped tonight. My conferences have all gone really well so far. My toughest one will be tomorrow so wish me luck!
 

Lakeshore Giveaway & Teddy Bear Day

I was lucky enough to be asked by the great people at Lakeshore Learning to review Roll & Build At-My-Seat Geometry Game.

I am using this as a math tub since we just finished up our geometry unit. The student rolls the foam die and creates the shape with the balls and sticks. What a terrific hands-on activity! It comes with a sturdy direction card with helpful visuals. Building the 3D shape is a great challenge for my advanced first graders.

Like all Lakeshore products, the quality is great and it comes in a handy plastic hanging bag.

Would you like to win this great activity for your classroom? Just enter below and I will pick a winner next Sunday.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Followers of my blog can also click {HERE}  for a special buy one, get one 50% off promotion.

We celebrated Teddy Bear Day on Friday. I did much the same as last year  but we used Kristin's hat and measurement activities this year.

I also read some new books.

 

The gummy bear graphing was the big hit as it is every year.  It was a fun day! 

Do you have a Teddy Bear Day?

Geometry FREEBIE and reviews

So, as I've said, a lot of my focus this year is on switching over to the Common Core State Standards.  This week we worked on:

1.G.1. Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size) ; build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.

 I gave partners a bowl of attribute links and had them work together to sort them into two piles by attribute.

You can download the sorting sheet for free {HERE}. We then shared out different ways they came up with. For example, the above picture could be 4 sides or 4 corners.

I was asked to review two products for Learning Resources. First up, Real World Folding Geometric Shapes. When I introduce geometric solids I try to bring some real life examples like a soccer ball, soup can, etc. I always struggle though to come up with something to hold up for a triangular pyramid, for example. Here is an answer to my problem.

Many different nets are provided that you can easily exchange. Cool, huh? Activity ideas are also included. Being able to physically touch the vertices & sides should make them easier to count. Anyone else's students have trouble with that Envision lesson (8-5) where they have to count vertices & sides they can't see? My game The Great Shape Race goes along great with these.

I also got to try Sentence Buildings that I hope to eventually put out as a center choice.

Each building is a part of speech. The students pick a card from each and arrange them into a sentence. To differentiate, simple sentences can be made by only picking pronoun, verb, noun, and punctuation cards. My plan is to try it with my high group in small group first. Again, a variety of activity ideas are provided. The quality of the cards is impressive so they will last!

Interested in keeping up with Learning Resources? You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Last, I wanted to tell you that I went over my Decoding Strategies sheet with the parents at Back-to-School Night and it went over REALLY well! I have had parents tell me they are using it nightly and others have commented that they wish they had it sooner. Woo Hoo! Click on the pic if you want to check them out. Thanks SO much to everyone who has!

VersaTiles Starter Set Giveaway

Have you heard of VersaTiles? I had heard of them but never seen them in action. The great people over at ETA hand2mind sent me a 1st grade Reading/Language Arts Starter Set to try. I am using it with an incoming first grader I am tutoring this summer and I am a new fan!

The numbered tiles come in a black case with the letter choices on the bottom. As the student chooses the correct answer, he places the number on the letter choice.

We used this book but the starter kit comes with 8 books at different levels of increasing complexity.  My student is still struggling with some of his letter names and sounds so we did the beginning sound picture match the first day.

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Here is a sample page

Once all the questions are answered the student closes the lid, flips it over and reopens it. The back of the tiles form a design that the student compares to the answer key at the bottom of the page.

As you can see, he got 2 wrong (yellow & blue reversed.) So the student takes those 2 out, flips it back over, and tries again. My student confused the b & d so you here you see him trying the finger trick.

 Here is a better picture of the finger trick. I have them say, "a, b (hold up the left), c, d (hold up the right.) I like this better than the bed thing because they always have their fingers with them!

After he fixes his mistakes, the student flips it back over to check again. This time he got it right!

VersaTiles are perfect to add as a Daily 5 choice or literacy center. These are exactly the kind of skills I want my students practicing and I don't have to make them! Plus I love the manipulative aspect. The boy I tutor is *very active* and he was completely engaged by manipulating the tiles and closing and flipping the case.  The self-checking immediate feedback is also a big plus. I'd highly recommend this product!

There are also different VersaTiles sets focusing on comprehension strategies, vocabulary, children's literature, even math and science! Check out the ETA hand2mind website to learn more.

The terrific people at ETA hand2mind are offering 1 lucky winner a 1st Grade VersaTiles Reading/Language Arts Starter Set! Enter via Rafflecopter until July 13th at midnight.
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Giveaway # 5 Spring Break Giveaway

WooHoo...1 day left...I'm almost there!

As my final gift to you, I am giving away a Luna Interactive Projection Camera from Learning Resources which retails for $199.99!

A few years ago I wanted a document camera so badly that I purchased one myself. There is no doubt I am a better teacher for it.

We use it every morning to go over our Daily Editing Word Problems. Here is a shot of one of my students showing his work under the Luna.

I use Cara's Calendar Companion with my Daily Editing. LOVE!

It came in handy this week when I was explaining how to measure with unifix cubes and I often demonstrate steps in an art project. I'll post more about some of the art we did tomorrow.

The Luna is easy to hook up to your laptop and projector. I don't have an interactive whiteboard (I wish) but I know you can connect to those as well.

Advantages over my current document camera:
1. No lightbulbs to replace.
2. Lighter weight.
3. Mine doesn't take videos!
4. MUCH cheaper! Mine cost over $500!!!

You can learn more about Learning Resources wonderful products by viewing them on YouTube.

Here are three ways to enter to win an Luna Interactive Camera for yourself:
1. Follow this blog AND my TpT store or if you already do, I'd love it if you'd leave feedback on one of my TpT items.
2. Like Learning Resources facebook page.
3. Bonus: Spread the word about my Spring Break 5 days=5 Giveaways on your blog, facebook, twitter, or Pinterest.

The winners to ALL 5 of my giveaways this week will be announced on Sunday, the 8th. You still have time to enter if you missed any of them!

Giveaway #4 Spring Break Countdown

I am over the hump...2 more days...I have a field trip today. I can do it!

Today I am giving away the HearALL Assessment Recorder from Learning Resources. This recorder was created for use in small groups and has 4 omni-directional microphones. It is super easy to use and is loud and clear!

What I like about it:
1. Easy to use.
2. Small and lightweight.
3. Connect to your computer and easily email the recording to a parent or resource teacher or add it to your audio book files for listening to reading like I posted about yesterday.
4. No batteries!!! Charge it by plugging into your computer or I bought a USB hub for all my gadgets.

This obviously can be used during guided reading or book clubs and played back later to gather assessment data but I decided to use it for a slightly different purpose yesterday.

Some of my friends this year have difficulty staying on task and using time appropriately during Daily 5.  I put the HearALL out next to these two to hear how well they were doing during Read With Someone. Were they taking turns reading and checking for understanding or having off-topic conversations? Can we add this recording to our mp3 players?

I have a few friends on behavior contracts. I strategically placed the HearALL to determine if everyone was on task even though I'd be busy with a reading group.

The WHOLE room was quieter because I told them the mics were powerful! :-)

You can learn more about Learning Resources wonderful products by viewing them on YouTube.

Here are three ways to enter to win an HearALL for yourself:
1. Follow this blog AND my TpT store or if you already do, I'd love it if you'd five feedback on one of my TpT items.
2. Like Learning Resources facebook page.
3. Bonus: Spread the word about my Spring Break 5 days=5 Giveaways on your blog, facebook, twitter, or Pinterest.

Did you miss my 3 last days of giveaway? Go back and check them out!
The winners to ALL my giveaways will be announced on Sunday, the 8th.

Giveaway # 3 Spring Break Countdown

2 days down. 3 to go.

Today's giveaway is for an Easi-Speak USB Recorder from Learning Resources.
The microphone design had my students clamoring for their turn to use it!

What I like about this product:
1. Wireless
2. Doesn't require batteries.
3. Easy one button recording.
4. USB built right into the bottom!
5. Instant playback so students can listen to their recording.

Here is an idea I had for how to use this in my room:

My kiddos LOVE to write during Daily 5 and their books are added to our class library. Other students may put them in their book box to read and they are very popular. I think giving young authors equal billing with "real" authors is important. I've recently allowed them to collaborate on books and they are so motivated they ask to work on books whenever there is ANY free time!

I let the author(s) read their book during our sharing time at the end of each round of Daily 5. The problem is there are usually too many authors and some students are disappointed when we run out of time to share everyone's writing.

I just had my DonorsChoose project funded for mp3 players for our listening center. Yipee!
I had a brainstorm to combine these two new techno gadgets!

My students use the Easy-Speak to record themselves reading the book they wrote.

These two collaborated on the book so they decided to take turn reading the pages.

Then I add the mp3 to our audiobook files so their friends can listen to their book!
What better way for students to practice fluency than by reading for the audience they care most about: their peers!

This year, my class loves to write their own versions of books we have read together. This one is based on My Name is Not Isabella. We had the author visit which is an amazing gift for young writers.

 No, David sparked a flurry of No, _____ books. This one has ME as the main character!

You can learn more about Learning Resources wonderful products by viewing them on YouTube.

Three ways to enter to win an Easi-Speak for yourself:
1. Follow this blog AND my TpT store or if you already do, I'd love it if you'd go rate one of my items.
2. Like Learning Resources facebook page.
3. Bonus: Spread the word about my Spring Break 5 days=5 Giveaways on your blog, facebook , twitter or Pinterest!

Click {here} for Day 1 or {here} for Day 2 if you missed my other Spring Break Giveaways!
I will pick the winners for all 5 giveaways on Sunday, the 8th!